UTS Startups, which has cultivated more than 1,500 startups and countless young entrepreneurs over the last six years, has announced its new home in Sydney’s Tech Central Precinct.
The new location, to be open by the end of June, will offer early stage acceleration programs to students and staff members at highly discounted rates to encourage “great entrepreneurs who give back to those around them,” according to director of Entrepreneurship at UTS and managing director of UTS Startups Murray Hurps.
The incubator is a reset of the model for promising early stage startups and is a chance to apply learnings from creating other incubators, Mr Hurps told InnovationAus.com.
“The scaleup hub has been fantastic, but there is a gap in the market for early market support,” Mr Hurps said. “We will provide free access to programming, including a rapid value creation program to startups that have students on the founding team.”
“Our business model is to reinvest the fees we collect back into the startups and students… [they] are not paying a landlord, [they] are paying for programming.”
UTS Startups opens in late June on the busiest street corner in Sydney near Central Station, the heart of Tech Central, which will already hosts companies like Block and will soon become Home to Atlassian and the Sydney Startup Hub.
According to Mr Hurps, the physical proximity of the location to inspiring and notable Australian success stories will be part of the incubator’s attraction to aspirational entrepreneurs.
“There’s a natural hotspot … precincts only work because of the chances you have to have conversations, engage in programs and things you wouldn’t have without physical proximity,” he said.
“It has been amazing to look out of the windows and see the Atlassian building across the road. Buildings [themselves] aren’t important, but we create entrepreneurs by inspiring them through role modelling and supporting them through peer learning,”
Mr Hurps emphasised internal space is also important, saying “if you’re not connected to what you need, an incubator is worthless”.
“UTS Startups was built from the ground up, with software and programs to connect people to what they need… that functions as an engine of engagement and opportunities.”
This includes an entry system that tells arrivals “where the most useful people to engage with and connect to what they need around UTS,” Mr Hurps said.
“Access is underrated — the system will tell you where to sit and where there are similar startups trying to solve that challenge.”
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